The Blood-Red Incident
by Sapphire Host
Summary: "In the room immediately adjacent to the foyer of the Sage's hospital, the doctor prepared the words he would use when he faced the patient's loved ones." When one of the four Links suffers an injury in battle, the rest of the team is left to lament in the possibility that one of their teammates might never be the same again. (Still in-progress)
1. Chapter 1

Blue held his head in his hands as he sat outside of the doctor's office. Vio, who had never really been good at expressing empathy (Vio was sure that he understood what Blue was feeling, given that he had felt a similar sense of guilt about Shadow Link's injuries from that accursed mirror), stood awkwardly in a corner of the reception area, looking everywhere except for at Blue. Green sat directly to Blue's right and had one arm around Blue in a comforting half-hug. Blue was aware of these things even with his bangs shielding most of his field of vision, and although he knew it was useless, he couldn't stop himself from scanning the room for the familiar, red clothing of the person he loved so dearly. He silently cursed himself, again, for allowing his eyes to betray the truth that he felt deep in his soul.

It's his fault.

It is entirely his fault.

Vio took a deep breath, sucking up both the air and the courage his triforce is known for, and looked straight at Blue.

"It's not your fault." Vio stated, once again showing off his talent for guessing what his clones were thinking, "There were monsters everywhere. Blaming yourself for what happened would be acting even stupider than you usually act." Vio wasn't trying to be mean, he just wanted Blue to react, to be angry, to be anything other than this. This wasn't Blue. Blue was hot headed. Blue was full of spirit. Blue was passionate. What Vio was looking at now was a boy with Vio's hair, Red's eye-color, Green's piece of the triforce, and a tear-streaked face. If Vio could just get one reaction from Blue -an angry shout, a snide remark, or an instigating statement- then, maybe when the doctor inevitably walks in, everyone would at least feel a little more prepared.

"Sure, Vio. Whatever." Blue replied, tired of not knowing what was going on inside of the sterilized room behind him. Vio and Green shared a worried glance for about 15 seconds (_It's odd that I notice these things,_ _but not the things that matter,_ Blue thought to himself) before Green tried to cheer Blue up.

"He's going to be alright Blue, after all-" Green began but was quickly cut off.

"I know that he'll be alright." Blue shouted, exasperated that his own clones didn't know of his faith in their, and Red's, strength. He _knew_ that Red would pull out of this, and he knew that Red would probably run out of the room with his same child-like attitude and probably overreact to everything.

"Well then what's wrong?" Vio inquired. Leave it to Vio to know exactly what questions to ask, because Blue sure as Din didn't know the answer. Luckily, the sound of a carriage outside, and the familiar shouting of a girl, distracted the Links. Zelda ran in completely out of breath, bunching the skirt of her dress just above her ankles to keep from tripping.

"What happened? Why was the royal messenger so distressed? Is the Four Sword broken? Is the triforce lost?" Zelda quickly fired questions at the Links. When she received no answer, she quickly, but thoroughly, looked around the room. Suddenly, as though she had finally surveyed her surroundings enough to fully grasp the situation, she gasped, and slowly asked through the glove of the hand that covered her mouth, "What happened to Red?" Blue, who had looked up when Zelda had entered, quickly shot his head to the left to avoid eye contact with the princess. Green filled Blue's old spot in the floor with his gaze, and Vio, who was the only one to make eye contact, answered.

"You might want to sit down before I tell you this," Vio warned, "This story is about as long as it is gruesome." Zelda, not one to shrug off advice given by her purple-clad friend, quickly stole the closest chair. After she had settled, Vio began.


	2. Chapter 2

"We had planned to train in water-based environments, so we were trying to think of a good spot."

As Vio explained this, Blue remembered how, although Green wanted to train along the Zora River, Red preferred to stay closer to the town and suggested training in the fountain in Hyrule Town Square. Blue almost laughed at the memory of Red's determined expression as he was arguing over the ridiculous idea, but Vio's monotonous tone as he told the depressing story quickly sapped Blue of the small joy.

"There were a lot of good places to train," Vio continued, "but we couldn't seem to reach a unanimous decision."

Green remembered that Red had been the only person who thought the river was a bad place to train. Red said something about how he had a weird feeling in his stomach about going too far away from town. _I dismissed it as mere excitement about the seasonal fair preparations._ Green recalled. The realization that his dismissal of Red's instinct could be the reason that the Links were congregated in the foyer of the Sage's hospital now, left Green's entire body feeling heavier, but he couldn't let Blue see his despair, there was no telling how it would affect this strange, different Blue.

"Since we couldn't reach an agreement over which place to train on, I suggested we train a little at the archers' range to warm up before water training. All of the locations that we had weeded the suggestions down to were either far away or dangerous for bystanders, so everyone agreed that it would be best to do some light, preliminary training to make sure that we were prepared for something to go wrong,"

At this, Blue gave a low, dark chuckle. _Something had gone wrong_. Blue thought _And I sure as Din wasn't prepared for it, nor do I think anything could have prepared me for… this. Besides, nobody actually agreed with you, Vio. You just argued the same point over and over again in a different way until everyone went along with your plan just to shut you up._ Vio, who had accurately guessed his clone's thoughts, resisted the urge to shrug, roll his eyes, or glare at the boy in blue, mostly because Blue seemed to be getting a little of his spirit back.

"Unfortunately, the archers' range was temporarily closed due to the seasonal fair, so, instead, we moved into the forest to try to find a good tree we could shoot at." Vio explained, "However, during shooting practice, Green thought he heard a sound in the surrounding forestry, so we stopped. After about 2 minutes, we still didn't hear anything, but Green thought it would be best to pack up and get ready to move to the river, so, despite the objections of Red and Blue, Green and I packed up all of the equipment and weapons."

_That,_ Blue reflected, _had been our first mistake._

"After all of our items had been packed, a loud shout erupted from the surrounding woods."

That battle cry currently haunted Green, Blue, and Vio, but they would never admit that, especially not now. Not with the news poor Zelda was about to hear, and the pain and horror all of the people in the room were about to live, whether again or not.

"Sword-wielding Goblins fell from the treetops surrounding us. Luckily, Red and Blue had their swords equipped already, and were able to cover Green and I as we fished our swords from the equipment bags. We weren't that far from the town, and since the majority of the Goblins were appearing from the trees opposite the direction of the town, I assumed that they were originally on their way to attack Hyrule. I shouted at Red to run back to town to warn the watchmen and ask you to send some of the guards to help us," Princess Zelda, upon being introduced as a minor character in the non-fiction, stiffened a little as Vio continued, "Red complied with my order and began to fight his way towards town. After about 30 seconds of fighting off the ambush, we heard a familiar scream."

Blue violently shuddered. The scream had been heart wrenching to him. _It had been high-pitched and lasted for about 5 seconds_, Blue recollected, slightly surprised at how he could accurately describe the scream. After all, he had only heard that scream once before, and yet Blue had instantly been able to recognize the owner. The only other time Blue had heard Red scream like that was in a previous fight, when Gufuu had grabbed Red and was reeling him in, in an attempt to eat him. It was the scream Red only used when he was in extreme danger.

Green showed no change at the mention of the scream. He couldn't allow himself to. Not when Blue had such a powerful reaction to it. For some reason, Blue, who had always been the group's source of determination, needed someone to be strong for him, so Green, naturally, assumed the role. But that's not to say that the scream didn't ring out in Green's ears, and haunt, if not fuel, his regrets. It had been Green's idea to pack up all the weapons. They would have been better prepared for the attack if Vio had his bow, if Blue had his hammer, if Red had his fire rod. The slingshot might only stun enemies, but it still could've helped. But no, Green had decided to pack everything when he should've known better.

Vio had to pause at this part of the story to calm his nerves. He could feel his strength drain at the re-living of Red's scream. Vio couldn't help but feel at fault. It had been his idea to do preliminary training outside of town when the archer's range had been closed, despite Red's strange premonition about the horrors marching towards the town. However, Vio didn't allow himself to feel self-pity for very long though, Zelda needed to hear the end of the story, and if anyone was going to tell Zelda what had happened to, technically speaking, 1/4th of her childhood friend, it was going to be another 4th, and if Vio was going to finish the story, it had to be before the doctor finished whatever doctors do in this situation. So Vio, once again, sucked up both air and courage, and continued.

"At the scream, our adrenaline piqued. It took us approximately 35 seconds to mow through the goblins to get to the source of the scream. The scene in front of us when we did, however, was… horrendous is too kind a word, but I can't really think of a better one right now." Vio paused, "Are you sure that you want… all of the details?" He asked Zelda.

Zelda had been fascinated at the story-telling abilities of her friend. Captivated in the purple one's tale, and being the wielder of Wisdom, she almost had no choice but to violently nod. Zelda, despite not sleeping for a week at the vivid depiction Vio implanted in her mind, never once regretted her decision.

Vio sighed, took a deep breath, and looked over to Green. Vio didn't need to say anything. Green covered Blue's ears.

"The first thing I noticed was the blood."

That's all it took to have tears brim Blue's eyes. Green, who realized that Blue could still hear the purple Link, led Blue outside, so that he wouldn't have to hear anymore. Once Blue was safely outside, Vio took a deep breath and continued.

"It wasn't a pool of blood, per se, more like a coat. A coat of blood on the ground surrounding Red, the blood had to be fresh, because it was dark with oxygen, but it was strange to see all of the grass seemingly floating in the coat. Red was kneeling down in pain, facing to, what was then, our left, with his visible arm wrapped around his stomach. He had his head down in pain and was biting his lip for the same reason. A goblin, covered in clothing that appeared to be stained with the red blood of human and the black ash of fallen goblins, towered over him, holding his blood-bathed sword high, and preparing for the final blow. The scene could've been a painting at a museum, Zelda. The trees surrounding the clearing that the hero and the enemy were found in were covered with slashes from swords finishing a long-held vendetta. Some of the pink flowers with yellow-edged petals and pure white centers had fallen to the ground in a circle around the clearing, and the goblin had an evil, malicious smirk and black eyes that sparked with vengeance and hatred as he prepared for the final blow. It was a sight that demanded, and received, terror, wonder, and awe. As you can imagine, the moment that Blue merely glimpsed the scene, he rushed the goblin. Green, not being one to drop a fight, joined him. I ran towards Red, knowing that, despite being the most child-like of our group, Red wouldn't have been defeated if something wasn't wrong. I brought the equipment bag, which also stored our first aid kit, to Red's front in an attempt to help him."

Vio involuntarily paused. Zelda waited patiently for her friend to gather his thoughts; she knew that Vio would try to stall for as long as possible, but she was fine with waiting. Besides, she definitely didn't want to rush a story this powerful

"The first thing I noticed, strangely," Vio commented, "was the paleness of Red's face. It was almost like looking at a white-colored plate in a stained glass window when sunlight shines directly through it, when the only color is the pale, almost translucent yellow of the sun. Red's tunic, surprisingly, didn't appear too damaged. Only drenched. When you wear red, I guess blood doesn't show very easily. The only place Red's tunic seemed to be damaged was his right shoulder." Vio took a deep breath, and chuckled darkly, "I guess I was almost right, about his arm being wrapped around his stomach, but, although Red's left, upper arm angled towards his stomach, where it should have continued, had it been wrapped around Red's stomach that is, it bent at an approximate 90-degree angle towards his other arm, where Red's left hand was clutching the side of his right shoulder. Red's other arm lay on the ground, where the Four Sword, although in a loose grip, somehow continued resting in its owner's hand."

Somewhere outside of the room where the story was being told, someone broke down in tears with his leader hovering over him. The weeping boy wiped his own tear-streaked face with clean hands that felt as red as the only connected hand of the sobbing one's dismembered beloved. In the room immediately adjacent to the foyer of the Sage's hospital, the doctor prepared the words he would use when he faced the patient's loved ones.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't that Princess Zelda couldn't find any words. She found words -coherent, thought-quenching words- floated around in her head, but whenever she tried to focus on one, it seemed to dissolve into an unreachable part of her wise, scrutinizing mind. Vio, sensing that the princess probably wouldn't like the gory details about his blue clone's reaction to the injury, quickly dressing Red's wound in gauze, immersing the arm in ice water (originally, they had plenty to keep themselves hydrated and cool during training), and carrying Red's unconscious –but still breathing- form to the hospital, finished the story by relaying only the most important facts about those events to her.

Blue, sensing that he would be recalled into the foyer soon, began composing himself. Green, who had no idea how to comfort a lamenting version of himself, let alone Blue, in this situation, allowed Blue to calm down on his own. The hotheaded hero appreciated this. He hates pity when it is directed at him.

The doctor took one last look at the patient before entering the foyer. The figure of the red-clad boy with his eyes closed and hair tousled in a secret technique known only to the hat, looked very peaceful, not at all like he had been in a battle only moments before, as his identical quadruplets had explained. The doctor took a deep breath, and entered the foyer of the Sage's hospital.

The doctor didn't get a chance to introduce himself to the two bodies, a boy identical to his patient (the only difference being the purple garb that the boy wore) and the princess, before a third person, another identical boy dressed in a different color than the patient or the violet boy, skidded inside and barraged the poor doctor with questions.

"What's going on with Red?" The boy with clothes that matched his eyes asked, "Can I see him? Will he be all right? Is he awake? Are you making sure that he's comfortable?" A fourth boy, this time in green garb, ran in after the blue boy and quickly restrained his clone.

"Sorry," the boy in green quickly apologized, "we're very worried about our friend." The doctor, naturally, understood the boy in blue's concern. He had seen it in many families, including his own. The doctor gave Blue an empathetic smile and motioned for everyone to sit down. It didn't take long for the Links to catch on, but the princess, understandably given her Triforce, was a little tired of being patient to receive information.

"Well, don't keep us waiting." Zelda said as she stood up and put both hands on her hips. The doctor, acknowledging the princess with a quick bow, responded a little more-than-casually.

"I'd never dream of it, milady. But…" here, the doctor paused and bit his lip contemplating the best way to go about this. "Would you like the bad or the good news first?"

Bad move.

The boy in blue practically leaped out of the wooden seat he had chosen and tackled the poor doctor.

"What bad news? Isn't everything all right with Red? Is he sick? Is he breathing? Did you let him-" Blue snarled at the doctor, but was cut off when Vio stepped between Blue and the doctor, and the doctor regained his personal space back in the same procedure as when he first walked into the room (only with Vio leading the way instead of Green and with the smart Link telling the bluer one to shut up, calm down, and sit).

Blue, for the third time that day, regained his composure and forced himself to step away from the doctor, while mumbling a half-hearted apology. Vio then turned to the doctor, nodded, and returned to his seat. The doctor, catching his cue to continue, cleared his throat to start doing just that.

"Well, the good news is," he began, "your brother has finally stabilized." The relief in the room was pungent. The boy left exhausted through his sudden attack grew about 3 inches, the leader relaxed (which caused him to lose about three inches), Vio stood there stoically (which was his way of showing relief), and Zelda sat down again. "However…" here, the man in scrubs needed, as he does all too often, to address the hardest part of his career path; administering bad news in a way that was both quick, and as painless as possible. "We're going to need to bring in some more… advanced doctors." Vio raised his eyebrow at the doctor suspiciously from his chair while the other three friends hadn't fully registered the words from the physician through their relief.

"What kind of advanced doctors?" Vio asked. The man in scrubs shifted from his left foot to his right foot and cleared his throat to make sure that everyone could hear him.

"Well, we've currently got your friend in a healing shroud. Do you understand what that is?" The physician began. Everyone nodded. It was a basic principle in their biology class. When doctors' patients have injuries resulting from sharp, solid objects, the doctor uses level-1 magic to create a clear, magical, and ethereal bubble. This bubble shrouds the patient and filters all air entering it, to keep airborne bacteria from reaching the open wound, while still giving the patient the normal mixture of air needed to live. "Good, glad to hear that the school system still works. Now, just because it's called a 'healing shroud' doesn't mean that it can fix every-" The doctor began to explain but was cut off by Blue.

"We just said that we understand what a frickin' healing shroud is, so would you just hurry and tell us why you need special doctors to heal Red?" Blue asked, irritated at the patronizing tone the member of the medical staff was using and worried about why he was using it.

"Yes, of course, sorry." The interrupted man quickly apologized, followed by an eye-roll by Blue. After hearing that Red was stable, Blue apparently gained some, but not all, of his spirit back. "Well, you see," the doctor attempted to continue, but paused rather often in an attempt to gather the correct words, "your quadruplet's arm… it… I don't know if it can be… well… reattached…" Blue's head and eyes snapped towards the doctor. His grief snapped back to him.

"Are you saying… Red might only have one arm for the rest of his life?" Green asked, eyes wide with fear. The doctor nodded.

"I'm going to bring in a professional from my home town of Kakariko Village. She's the best in the business, and if she can't reattach, I think you said it was Red, Red's arm, then… there's nothing I can do." The empathizing, scrubbed man informed the heroes and princess. The room allowed the people a minute of silence to soak in the news and imagine. For Vio, this minute was spent thinking about how he would break the news to his roommate and the types of books he should pick up on the subject of medicine. Green pictured teaching Red how to fight with only one arm. _It would be a challenge, for sure,_ Green admitted, _but I'm not one to back down from a challenge._ Zelda determined how she would go about treating Hyrule's future medical guest (the more preferable path than to see her childhood friend crippled) and also all the medical experience the Hyrulean doctors could learn from the professional. Blue could only think about when Red woke up. Knowing Red, he'd probably do something strange. He'd probably say something about being a pirate and ask Blue for an eye patch, a stuffed parrot, and a fake hook for his... right side. What would the arm-less space be called? A nub? A shoulder? The arm-less space? Zelda stood up after a minute of tense silence.

"Thank you for explaining, sir. Now, I understand that patients of combat wounds aren't allowed visitors for one day and we surely won't be able to visit him while he is being treated, but Kakariko is a two-day trip from here, so we'll be back tomorrow to visit Red. We'll take our leave now. Goodbye, Doctor, and thank you for your patience." Zelda curtsied, then spun on her heels and exited the Sages' Hospital, quickly followed by three identical boys and their rushed goodbyes. The four friends climbed into Zelda's waiting carriage, and began the ride to the house that the heroes shared outside of Hyrule.

The Links' house could be classified as a medium between modest and luxurious, thanks to donations from Zelda's "Houses for Heroes" foundation, which gave funds to heroes to build houses outside of places where they'd be harassed by fans and neighborhood enemies. When the carriage arrived, Blue noticed how pretty the house was due to Reds' influence. The flower garden (which was ordered by colors so that it looked like a rainbow of flowers on either side of the door, with purple lavender closest to the door, and red zinnias furthest from it), the smooth white paint, (chosen because, according to Vio, white basically contains all of the colors inside it, which to Red showed unity when painted onto the house), and the huge slide from the playground in the backyard, which Red begged for weeks, and worked as a landscaper for just as long, to obtain. The clones stepped out of the carriage, thanked Zelda for giving them a ride, and walked into the one-story, white house, but not before a certain purple hero noticed that the Zinnias looked a little withered.

Immediately entering the house is a foyer of sorts. Where there are three doors, the right of which leads to the guest room and the closest door to the backyard from the front door, the left door leads to the main residents' bedrooms, and the one on the wall directly opposite the front door leads to the kitchen and other living areas. Vio excused himself from the group and entered the central door to grab a bite to eat from the kitchen before checking on his roommate, Blue entered the left doorway, mumbling about needing to get something, and Green wanted to go play on the swing set in the backyard, so he entered the right door.

Green swung contentedly in the backyard. The hypnotizing, rhythmic motion of the swings had been his favorite place to calm down since they had been built. Red had been kind enough to paint the framework of the swing set emerald green after learning about the leader's preference. As the swing's arc grew wider and higher, Green let his thoughts wander to the past days' events. He still felt like it was his fault, but refused to allow regret to intermingle with guilt any longer. _Red is stable, and what's done is done. Besides, if Red finds out that I'm thinking such sad thoughts, he'll kill me. Red doesn't like when I criticize myself, especially on the swing set. _Green thought, making sure to carefully avoid using past tense language. As Green's thoughts danced and marched through his head, the swing continued its arc, unhindered by heavy emotions or deep thoughts.

Blue walked into Red's room and, after turning on the lights, felt a pang of sadness. Red had mentioned to his hot-headed clone while getting ready for training that he had bought a surprise, and there it was, sitting on the venetian red, fabric-velvet sheets; a blue gift bag with gradation from sapphire blue in the lower right corner to robin's egg blue in the upper left corner, and turquoise-colored tissue paper. Blue smiled and shook his head as he approached the small gift. _Leave it to Red to find the best gift bag in all of Hyrule,_ Blue thought as he sat down on the bed, facing the door, next to his gift. Not wanting to open the gift just yet, the spirited hero moved the gift bag onto his lap and turned it around. That's when he first noticed the gift tag. It wasn't spectacular, just a plain, white tag attached to the blue handles of the gift by a lighter blue ribbon. In black lettering, the tag read, "I know I stress you out, so here's something to help! –Red", which only twisted the boy's guilt into an agonizing, left corkscrew. Blue slowly opened the gift, careful not to tear any of the tissue paper, and retrieved his present. Inside the bag was a sky blue stress ball with the words "My Blue hero" printed onto it. Blue didn't quite understand when tears flooded his eyes; a smile grew on his face, and his stomach knotted in anger. _That little creep…_ Blue thought as he lay back and imagined what he'd do if the aforementioned creep had handed him the present in person.

While Green was entering the backyard, Vio was sitting in the kitchen with an apple in his right hand and the other arm resting on the table, reminding himself of the entirety of the day's events, cringing at the scream and releasing a shuddering sigh at the sharp imagery of the scene that the uninjured team had burst into after the scream. It hadn't been easy to calm Blue down. His emotions had ranged from paralyzed shock when he first saw Red to unadulterated fury after his slow mind fully registered what had happened, finishing with… whatever that show at the hospital featured. Vio's head snapped back to the present, the lack of presence of edible parts of an apple in his hand, and the realization that it was time for Vio's roommate to know what had happened.

While Blue was confused over the effects of the gift he had been given, Vio was standing in the hallway, in front of his violet door (the shade of which Red called True Purple). He wondered how he was going to tell his roommate about Red. It's not like they had been very close –in fact, there is still a slight suspicion in the household that Red is scared of the collected clone's roommate- but it's not like they avoided each other. _In fact,_ Vio recollected, _I think he even pitched in with 50 rupees towards getting Red's playground. Now, where he got those rupees, I've got no idea._ The two boys were more like friendly acquaintances than anything else. It's not like Vio didn't know how to explain the status of the childish clone, after all he'd spent the entire ride home in his head, planning what he was going to say, but the collected clone had never been very good with empathy. _He better have a candle lit_ _in there_, Vio thought, in an attempt to stall the inevitable, _if I'm nice enough not to install electric lighting in my room (speaking of electric lighting, I really need to ask Princess Zelda about the fundamentals behind her invention) then he should be nice enough to allow me to see my own room._ With this thought, Vio opened the purple door quickly, entered and closed it just as quickly behind him.

"Before you say anything," Vio quickly interrupted the silence, "I've got some very bad news to tell you."

Shadow looked up from his laptop at the blond.

"Sure thing, cutie." He said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. _This,_ Vio thought, sighing at today's nickname and the news he was about to reveal, _is not going to bode well._


	4. Chapter 4

_Vio's probably telling Shadow what happened right about now,_ the boy with blue clothes concluded as he walked through the hallway with his new present in hand. He glanced at the shared room, remembering (as he does every time he passes the purple door) exactly how Shadow Link had come to stay at the other Links' house.

When the mirror had been shattered, a considerable amount of damage forced itself onto the young, newly found hero. However, since the boy's heart proved itself to be filled with a powerful type of courage and kindness that are only shown through self-sacrifice, the mirror's destruction did not necessarily signal the violet-haired one's. The maidens sensed this fact. Through their powers, the women saw the shadow's bravery, and resolved to help the fifth link. The light that Shadow later recounted as his salvation, the other Links knew as the light of a teleporting fairy. However, all eight maidens were forced to send a fairy in order to reach Shadow through the faraway, dark clouds, so naturally the effect of the light was amplified.

The dark-clothed boy's injuries were inflicted through two nodes: being removed from the world that shares his name, and the severance from his home in that very world. Knowing that the boy's survival was endangered through his inability to experience solar energy, the maidens moved the boy to the enclosed altar, and blocked any and all light that entered the room until the Links returned. When the four blond heroes returned to the altar, they were in good spirits, as they deserved. They began to recount their tale to the maidens (a fondness of tales tends to grow in the wise), and up until the Tower of Winds, the story was told with the same invigorating energy that young boys possess. However, when the tale reached the section about the mirror's destruction, the boy's faces grew grave. Dejectedly, the clones (mainly Vio) began to tell the maidens about their fallen comrade, but were quickly interrupted by the maidens, who informed the boys of their recovering friend's whereabouts. The heroes, after learning the news, quickly ran towards what had then been their new teammate with Vio leading (guilt and hope are known to quicken reflexes when the feeling(s) is/are about to end), Green (who couldn't wait to start anew with his new teammate) following Vio, and finishing with Blue and Red (Blue's only cause for ending second-to-last at the time, came in the form of Red, who was wary at approaching Shadow, cowering behind his tunic and slowing him down). When the four had finally reached their fifth, they found him slumped in a corner, covered with cuts, blood, and gore. The hot-headed hero quickly covered the innocent hero's eyes while the leader called for the maidens and the clever hero ran towards their new teammate. The yellow maiden quickly entered the room at the leader's calls, noticed the clever hero's actions, walked towards the collected Link, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Do not worry, young hero," the yellow maiden informed the aforementioned boy, "the fact that his wounds are now visible only shows that he is recovering. Unfortunately, he cannot stay here for much longer. If the shrine does not receive light, it will lose power." Vio nodded his head. Shadow was afraid of light. To this day, it remains his only fear. The shadow mirror was once the boundary between having Shadow's fear be rational or irrational. When the shadow mirror was intact, the light could not hurt him, and there was no need for the reflection to avoid light, but now that Shadow had shattered the boundary, light could be deadly to the injured, black-garbed hero. If Shadow was going to survive, light must never reach his wounds. However, the altar also serves as a boundary, which keeps Ganon from returning with his demons. The strength of the altar could not be compromised for the sake of the injured boy. Shadow's removal from the altar to a place where he could recover and where light could not reach him would be necessary. Vio had no doubt in his mind when he proposed to share a room with his friend, and his fellow colors had no anxiety about allowing it.

Vio tended to Shadow's wounds after the quintuplet had been moved, but refused to allow the boy out of his room, stating that one could never know when light would try and reach the healing comrade.

Shadow's condition had improved dramatically in the first week, but to this day, he still couldn't handle much stronger than a candle. It didn't seem to faze the black-garbed boy, though. Shadow was used to avoiding the light, and at least now he had a place that would accept him as an equal.

Blue smirked at the memory of being invited to assist in healing the newest member of the household, and recalled watching with awe at Vio's skills in healing. The hot-headed one could not, and never would, deny that Vio had skill in the trade, and, now that he thought about it, was thankful that Vio had been the first to reach Red. Blue would have certainly panicked, and Green would have wasted time by waiting for the group's healer's instructions before acting.

When Blue snapped out of his thoughts, he was standing in an open doorway and looking at the pirate ship playground that Red had worked towards so desperately. He could see his leader swinging on the swing set that had been placed so that the swings ran parallel with the ship. Red said he put the swings there to give the impression that the swinger was a dolphin in the ocean, Blue recollected while watching his green counterpart swing back and forth. The monkey bars (which are found under the main deck, where the sleeping quarters would usually situate) had always been Blue's favorite part of the playground. With monkey bars, you don't have the luxury of momentum, like on Green's swing set, or another person's weight, like on Red's favorite part of the playground, the seesaw. All you have on the monkey bars to propel you forward comes in the form of a person's own brute strength.

Watching his leader brought memories of Red back to the blue one's mind, images of Red begging Blue to be his partner on the seesaw, hassling Vio (who would, more often than not, be found reading in the crows nest at the top of the rope course) for the same reason, and either pushing or being pushed by Green on the swing set. Red loved this playground. He thought it to be a place where the Links could have fun without feeling the need to compete with each other, and, for the most part, it worked well.

Blue thought about joining Green on the swings. Blue thought about helping Vio comfort Shadow. Blue thought about going back to his room and sleeping this horrible day to its end.

After about 15 minutes of thinking, Blue turned, went back in the house, passed Vio's room, passed his own room, and entered Red's room again.

Shadow's legs buckled under the weight of the news, and he felt himself lower to a sitting position on the bed. Vio walked up and sat down next to Shadow.

"You didn't need to give me such a vivid description of Red's dismembered arm, Vio." Shadow critiqued in a voice barely above a whisper, "I think I can imagine an unattached limb just fine without a detailed report." Vio forced himself not to chuckle darkly at the comment. Same old Shadow, always trying to use commentary to deflect his emotions.

"I did warn you that you wouldn't want to stand," the purple-clothed boy retorted, "It was your choice to be a rebel and not listen."

"Yeah, but… how could I have ever guessed that your story would have such a morbid twist?" Shadow asked.

"You probably could have inferred it from-" Vio began, but was cut off by a sharp elbow jabbing into his upper arm.

"Shut up, Smarty. I'm not in the mood for one of your lectures." Shadow interrupted. Vio's frown deepened. Usually, Shadow would be laughing at the probability of another lecture about logic and conclusions.

"What's wrong, Shadow? Red is stable, isn't he? So there's nothing you need to-" Vio, for the second time, was cut off, once again, by something sharp.

"You want to know what's wrong?" Shadow began while standing up, "I'll tell you what's wrong. I have no way to see Red, so I don't know that he's stable. Red's stability is only a possibility until I see it, but even if I wanted to, I couldn't visit Red. It'll be daytime by the time that the hospital opens, and the hospital stops allowing visitors a couple of hours before dark! I'll never get to see Red myself, so how do I know that he's okay‽ I can't, because I'm allergic to the bloody sun!"

Vio was slightly taken aback by the sudden outburst. Shadow might not be as collected as the clone who wore Shadow's hair color, but that's not to say that Vio's roommate had as bad a temper as Blue.

"It's a little more than an allergy, Shadow. You can't help it." Vio tried to console his roommate.

"But it's not just the sun, Vio! It's every type of light greater than 13 lumens! I can't even have a flashlight pointed at me without being hurt. I still have to wait to be fully healed before I can risk getting a midnight snack with more than a candle to light my way, and now Red's in the hospital and Nayru knows how scared he must be, and I can't even go see him!" Shadow shouted at his startled roommate.

As the one-sided argument continued, Blue sat with his back to the purple door and his head resting against it, holding the stress ball in his hand. After cleaning every square inch of Red's room like Red always wanted him to help with, he had started towards the kitchen to begin preparing dinner, but the argument had stopped him.

What really stung about the argument, though, was the fact that Shadow realized how scared Red must be before Blue did. Blue tossed his new toy in the air and caught it, while listening to Shadow rage and Vio counter on the other side of the door, and that's, for the most part, how Vio found him 30 minutes later at about 9:30. When Vio opened the door to leave, a sleeping Blue fell into the room and a stress ball fell from his hand.

Vio and Shadow stood silently staring at Blue. Shadow had run out of steam 3 minutes before, and was apologizing the entire time up until Vio had turned to leave, so the silence was bliss to the purple clothed boy. After about 15 seconds of staring, Shadow and Vio both moved at the same time. Vio took the sleeping one's feet, while Shadow took the sleeping boy's head. Both of the purple-themed boys (the one with purple hair especially) were very careful when taking their sleeping clone to the venetian red fabric-velvet sheets. After Blue was tucked in to Red's bed (and the strange toy that had fallen out of his hand was stationary on the nightstand), both of his movers silently tip-toed out of the room, closed the door, and left to go make dinner by candlelight for all of the conscious Links.

Blue woke up with a start and immediately recognized that it was midnight. Groggily, the boy in blue stood from the bed and made his way to the kitchen. However, the kitchen was completely silent for the boy when he entered it, which was odd. That's when Blue remembered what had happened earlier that day, and with tears in his eyes, the boy left the room to return to his bed alone.

It started two weeks after they had saved Princess Zelda.

Blue woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of an empty stomach. The hungry Link groaned. _But the kitchen's so far away… _the groggy hero thought to himself with a groan. Blue lay in bed for a few minutes to allow the war between sleepiness and hunger rage. Eventually, hunger won the duel, and Blue forced himself to stand and trudge towards the kitchen, not bothering to unfold his hat or tunic for a simple trip. As Blue entered the kitchen, an average amount of light hit him in the face, however since his eyes were dilated to see through total darkness, the startled hero thought a bright light hit him in the face. After his eyes adjusted, Blue noticed a shape sitting at the table.

A familiar, red shape,

Red sat at the table hugging his legs to his chest. Since the boy's hat was removed, the tousled mess that was Red's blonde hair covered most of his face, but it was obvious to anyone entering the room that the boy was weeping. Blue stood awkwardly in the doorway, still holding the door wide open, when the sitting boy looked up and noticed him.

"Umm… I was just getting… I mean…" Blue sputtered, attempting to come up with an excuse that accurately explained his presence in the dining area. Red sat there for a minute with blonde bangs parting to reveal tear-filled eyes and a face stained in the same manner, not quite sure what to say. The red-clothed hero had learned to be more cautious about his outbursts, especially in front of Blue. Blue sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "What's wrong?" he asked exasperatedly as he moved to sit down next to his ruby-colored teammate. The spirited hero knew better than anyone that Red wore his emotions on his sleeve, to the point where even the smallest of actions could make Red bawl, and usually, the tempered hero didn't care what had upset his short teammate. However, as previously mentioned, Red wore his heart on his sleeve, so to be crying alone, and in the middle of the night no less, was abnormal.

"I-I had a nightmare." Red managed in-between sobs. Blue internally groaned. "I was walking through the house, but a nightmare version of it, like the one we saw in Elne's hometown." Twisted, dark, checker-board streets, houses with walls that bent at odd angles, and dead, mangled trees mark the nightmare known as the shadow world. "Well, there was a shadow monster again, who smelled like smoke and blood despite not having any physical form, chasing me, and Vio tried to protect me from the monster, but the monster just ended up possessing Vio. Then, the Vio-monster-thing started chasing after me, and you tried to stop Vio, but he killed you with your sword, and then I woke up." Blue sat perfectly still and stayed silent using the same level of skill. Red copied Blue.

"…again?" Blue asked.

"This might not be the first time I've had that dream… in fact, this is probably the fourteenth time I've had it." Red cautiously responded, while staring at the floor. After counting how many weeks are in 14 days, the taller clone raised his eyebrow. "Have you been trying to handle it on your own in the kitchen for an entire…" _what would Vio say?_ Blue thought, _…I just had it…_ "fortnight?" _That's it._

Red nodded his head slowly as more tears began to fill his eyes. Blue stayed quiet staring at Red, while deciding what to do, and inevitably groaned. _Green's too heavy a sleeper, There's no way I'm gonna be the poor sap who tries to wake up Vio, _Blue shivered as he re-experienced the horror of Red's last early morning adventure,_ and there's no way Red will fall back asleep otherwise._ Blue's thoughts paused_, …dang it. _

"You know, if you're not going to be able to sleep otherwise," Blue began, scratching the back of his hatless head in embarrassment and looking away from Red from a similar purpose, "you can try sleeping in my bed tonight."

The little link paused, "…alone?". His taller clone groaned while he closed his eyes, noticed the hopeful tone that the sniffling boy's voice held, and blushed like an idiot.

"Of course not."

Red jumped from his chair, surprising Blue with his speedy recovery, while also effectively sending the boy and his chair in a struggle against gravity, and bolted towards the doorway with the excitement of a small child on Christmas Day. Blue, after getting over his shift in balance and stunned state, chased after Red, while quietly screaming to shut up.

And every night after that day, Red and Blue would fall asleep in separate rooms, wake up at midnight, meet in the kitchen, talk for about 10 minutes, and then fall asleep in Blue's room together. Whether the rest of the team noticed was a mystery, due to the fact that the other Links did not bring up any topic relating to the nightly ritual. If the rest of the team knew, then it certainly did not bother them. If they knew, then they probably supposed as long as the ritual worked in keeping the teammates feeling safe, it was tolerable. The sleeping pattern did work too. The childish teammate's nightmares simply refused to enter sapphire-shaded door.

Now, Blue lie in his bed, staring at the ceiling. What if his nightmares come back while he's in the hospital? Do healing shrouds let patients have dreams? What if he wakes up and can't go back to sleep because he can't follow his routine? The head that is usually above a comfortable temperature was now filled to burst with questions.

A couple of hours earlier (around 10:30pm to be exact), a warrior with lighter eyes than the rest of his almost-identical companions walked towards town. After waiting for his roommate to fall asleep, the hero who favored purple escaped the dark, cold walls of his room. Setting out towards the fairgrounds, the boy carried only his sword and a pouch of rupees, hoping to heal the open wounds he had inflicted, once and for all.


	5. Chapter 5

Vio trudged down the shaded road. Dirt and pebbles crunched beneath the hero's leather boots as a waxing gibbous moon shined just enough light to frame the endless walkway. Covered in a translucent veil of darkness, the forest around the violet-garbed boy whispered of death and fear at any who approached, especially during night. Vio breathed in the sweet, sharp smell of pine trees and exhaled a puff of condensated, temporary fog. Vio walked with his hands in the hidden pockets of his custom-made mixture of trousers and tights and impossibly felt the hilt of the Four Sword. Vio smiled and rubbed the sharp edge of one of the many rupees in the pouch in his pocket as he remembered Zelda's bright face when she debuted her newest learned spell "Endless Space". The first thing she used her newfound spell on was a present to Link, so he could carry his knight training equipment around with him at all times.

Reminiscing guided the purple-clad hero to his destination, and when Vio's senses transitioned back to the present, he found himself jarringly close to the white, chipping paint of the gazebo in the middle of the triple spiral labyrinth in the castle garden. The boy couldn't have told you how he had arrived or how long it had taken him to get here. Luckily, he was the first to arrive at the meeting place. Otherwise, Vio would get a lecture about how important it is to stay focused while traveling, especially at night. Vio walked up the three short, wooden steps onto the white-painted gazebo. Chips of dried paint stood at awkward angles from the light brown floor, which squeaked and crunched accordingly under the heavy boots the Links always wore whenever going to town. Vio, having nothing else to do, sat on the bench attached to the banister walls, leaned back and observed the world around him as he waited for his guest to arrive.

It had gotten a lot darker since the last time Vio had been conscious of his surroundings. It took approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to walk to town from the Four Sword household, but Vio had been known to pace when he daydreamed, so it's possible for him to have double-backed for a short distance before turning around. He also had a tendency to start and stop jogging or flat-out running when he imagined or reminisced, so that would shave off some time from traveling. Vio sighed and leaned his head back on the rail. The roof of the gazebo, tent-shaped and supported by a crisscross wooden pattern similar to certain wine racks, had a small, but moderately powerful, light attached to it, on the off-chance that the King needed to clear his mind during nightly meetings.

It took ten minutes for Zelda to step onto the squeaky, crunchy floor of the meeting place, waking Vio up from his light nap.

"Sorry," she whispered, "It took me awhile before I could hear the guards start snoring." The smart Link raised an eyebrow.

"You really need better security in this place." He commented. Zelda stuck her tongue out at the purple version of her childhood friend. "I mean it. What if this was a set-up and someone other than me had been here to kidnap you?"

"Well," the princess began with a playful tone, raising a finger to her smiling chin as though she were deep in thought, "first of all, I wouldn't have stepped onto the squeaky gazebo. Secondly, if you couldn't last this long without sleeping, I doubt that anyone else would manage to stay awake, and I would've seen that it wasn't you and ran away. Finally, if, through some strange, unnatural force of nature, you allowed that to happen, then you and your fellow colors would come rescue me." Vio's face darkened.

"Not always."

Zelda's smile melted into a frown as she took the seat opposite of Vio.

"I should've deciphered it quicker," Zelda commented, face to the floor, wasting no time in getting to the subject that had brought both of them here.

"There's no way you could've known how little time we had, if you had, I'm sure you would have either worked faster or fought less about deciphering the dream yourself. Besides, you said "accident" came from the red tornado. That was in the middle of the dream. There's still time to figure out what we need to do next." The pink-clothed girl sighed and placed her head in her hands, letting her long, blonde hair hang wildly in front of her silk, floral print pajama top and bottom.

"We can't risk another accident. I think we need assistance from the town oneirocritic." Her shoulders slumped, defeated by her own words. In Zelda's eyes, this statement meant that she had been worthless and arrogant in the time when she was needed. Vio sighed, defeated for the same reason.

"I know, but we need to make sure we can trust her. She can't tell anyone until we set a plan. Besides, there's no reason for you to feel at fault." Vio paused.

"I can't believe I let us walk into that deathtrap." Vio quickly added. Rubbing the heel of his hands into his closed eyelids.

"You couldn't have known about the ambush," the princess tried to reassure her purple-themed friend, "dreams are part of the sub-conscious, and they tend to leave from your memory, especially the symbolic dreams, when you reach the point where the dream crosses over to reality. Does that make any sense?" Vio nodded his head, but he didn't feel reassured in the slightest.

"I thought it was strange how violently Red argued about staying in town. Weren't you the one who said to watch out for strange behavior and to listen to signs? I don't think Red could have been any clearer in his message of 'Don't enter the forest' unless he painted an actual, physical sign with those words on it." He countered.

"People aren't as easy to read as books, Vio. I know you have trouble in the subject of Hylians' emotions, so don't worry about it." Zelda tried, once again, to reassure Vio.

"It's not just Red though, Zelda. Shadow snapped at me today too." Vio's tone only grew sadder with each syllable.

"What's wrong with Shadow? Did his sass finally backfire?" the girl in pink inquired. She wasn't mad at Shadow anymore for kidnapping her, but whenever she visited the boy in black, the Hylian princess always made sure to pretend she hated him. It was like an inside joke between the Links and herself.

"I've ruined his life, that's what's wrong. I can't believe I didn't notice before, but the house arrest has pushed Shadow onto the threshold of depression."

"It's not really house arrest when you're stuck inside for your own health." Zelda commented.

"It feels like house arrest. At least, that's what he told me. I'm worried that his scars will transfer to an emotional state rather than their current physical one if he doesn't go outside. " The hero admitted.

"First of all, you really need to learn how to consistently speak like a normal person. Second of all, if there's anyone who can figure out a way to help heal Shadow," Zelda smiled at her friend with sympathy, "it's you. Now, go home, get some rest, and stop reading whatever smart-person novel you're reading or I swear to Nayru, you're going to start getting on my nerve's with your varying sentence structures." Vio smirked good-humoredly into his hands.

"I know for a fact that those "smart-person" books are your favorite." He looked up at his friend, dropping his arms so they crossed across his lap. "We'll go to the oneirocritic tomorrow after we visit Red." Zelda nodded, stood, and helped Vio up. They shared goodbyes and then split ways.

However, Vio didn't immediately start home.

The young swordsman walked towards the festival. Despite the early hours, a few vendors started setting up their stalls early, depending on how many items they had to display.

The purple-clad hero walked through an aisle surrounded by candy-colored, striped booths. Every once in awhile he passed a salesman, setting up their stall to maximize intrigue from future customers. Some of them wore massive amounts of jewelry, others were fat, and the rarity somehow found the wealth to be both. After a few minutes of walking, Vio stood in front of a blue and white, striped booth with holes in the roof and sides. The bottom foot of the stand, caked with dirt, had seen more than a few years' worth of customers abusing the cloth as they walked past. A skinny man, dressed in modest clothing, slowly and meticulously placed a few wares on the counter at the front of the stall. None of the items the vendor had set up were decorative or flashy, but they were in relatively good shape, at least to the point where they were functional. It was obvious that the booth owner wasn't well off financially, and that he had no house to sleep in given how early he was with so few items.

"Hello," Vio greeted the vendor, "I know I'm early, but I'm in kind of a hurry. Which one of these is your best?" the boy pointed to the items on the counter. The vendor looked up from his careful arranging, smiled at Vio, and crouched to sift through his box of items below the counter. After a second or two, the man stood and placed a fully intact item in front of the boy. Vio smiled and placed a sack of rupees on the counter in front of the vendor as he picked up his purchase. "Keep the change."

After another hour and a half of walking, Vio returned home with his gift in hand. The boy snuck through the dark foyer and hallway and quietly entered his shared room. The hero carefully leaned the present against the wall facing Shadow's side of the bed, so that it would be the first thing Shadow saw when he woke up. Vio climbed into bed next to Shadow and fell into a deep, wonderful sleep, knowing that the solid, dark purple parasol sat waiting for its new owner to awaken.


	6. Chapter 6

Green Link didn't sleep the entire night. His favorite time to swing was at night anyway, so his inability to sleep wasn't much of a bother to him. The repetition of a swing's natural motion comforted Green, and the only thing the nature-colored Link really needed right now was peace of mind.

Green had heard Vio leaving (of course he hadn't known it was Vio at the time, given that the door doesn't creak differently depending on the person who opens it) but he understood that whatever reason a Link would leave at 10:00pm, especially given what had happened earlier that day, was important. He had also noticed when Vio arrived back with a parasol in his hand around 2:00am, because he had been sitting in the Crowe's Nest at the time and could properly see over the roof of the shared house.

_All that for a stupid parasol?_ The original-colored hero thought, confused as to why Vio, of all people, would walk the three hours to town and back for something as stupid as a parasol, but, then again, the purple Link seemed to be a mystery to nearly everyone except Shadow.

_Oh,_ the realization dawned on Green as Vio's roommate, and the shadow's condition, crossed his mind, Green smiled sadly to himself, _It's nice to know that they're looking out for each other._ The hero looked down in the direction of the dining room, where he had earlier seen the light turn on, and then, after about 2 minutes, off. Green had never admitted to Red and Blue about his knowledge of their meetings, and it pained him to wonder how Blue felt after falling for the trap of his old ritual.

The famously colored boy understood perfectly what it was like to be close to someone but not be able to talk to them. Not only did Zelda live a full hour and a half away, but also rumors had begun to spread through the town that she and the boy in green were dating. Like most rumors, this was unfounded and not true. Although Link was close to Zelda, they were nothing more than best friends. Only Zelda and his other colors seemed to understand this, though.

Normally, a silly rumor wouldn't have bothered the Link, but this one was much more serious. Green was a knight-in-training, a member of the working class. Zelda was a princess, the highest class of them all. For her to be dating Green, would mean that she couldn't find nor handle suitors in her own class or in similar classes, and for people to insult Zelda in such a way boiled the grass-colored Link's blood, and it didn't help that the only thing he could do about it was cut off, or at least limit, contact with the princess. Green sighed.

_ It's just a petty little rumor. Eventually it'll die out or the king will address it. Besides, my problems will sort themselves out. They're definitely not the priority of the moment, so I need to start thinking of ways to help Blue, Vio, Shadow, and Red._

Green continued to sit on the Crowe's Nest, in an attempt to come up with ideas, but after 20 minutes without fruition, the Link climbed down, and went to lie in his bed.

Passing a door on his right, the walking Link heard someone jolt up silently in his bed. Green reached for the doorknob to check on his teammate, when he wondered whom he was dealing with. It was too dark to tell whether the door was purple or blue.

It didn't really matter anyway. Green was tired. Sure, he could try to help, but the leader didn't have the clear, focused mind needed to effectively help people.

Green's hand hovered over the doorknob as he contemplated his options. After what felt like an eternity, the green-clothed Link withdrew his hand, turned, and continued through a fog of darkness to his room.


	7. Chapter 7

The boy opened his eyes halfway to see a translucent emerald sheen over him. Lavender, organic lines moved as waves across the green as they performed their sole duty. He smiled and chuckled groggily at them. Looking outside of the sheen, the comforting darkness of night time transformed the room into silhouettes. Turning his head to the left, the boy saw a shadow in the shape of his sword and shield, stacked carefully on top of a white box made gray with darkness. His mind was cloudy with sleep, so no words formed in the boy's mind, but he did feel relief. The boy moved his head to the right to see a door. Confused, the boy wondered why he wanted to leave the comfort of his bed. He wasn't hungry. It was so relaxing. Couldn't he just sleep a little more? Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his right hand. Looking down, the boy tried to figure out what was wrong with his hand, only to discover why he couldn't move.

Large iron shackles pinned his body to the bed. Any time the boy tried to move, the grip tightened around his torso, crushing him to the spot. Around the area where his arm should be, was nothing except for a bloody bone-saw, a needle, thread stained with metallic-scented blood, and his sword.

Red's eyes jolted open in surprise, and he tried to shout for help, only to find his voice being crushed away from himself. The door to his right opened and harsh, bright light hit Red's eyes. The light blinded Red, yet he could somehow still see the man who entered. A tall, skinny man in robin's egg blue, blood-stained scrubs, smiled at his patient, wire-rimmed, ocular aided eyes bright with amusement. He held his hands behind his back and stood with the confident posture of an individual who know what he was doing, but the dark undertone his bright blue eyes held, would make anyone worry what, exactly, that entailed.

"It's alright, everything will be perfectly fine. I'll fix you right up." The doctor told Red in a maliciously soothing tone. Walking up to the bed, the doctor clapped his hands in front of himself; rubbing them with eagerness to begin whatever procedure he had planned. Red began to cry from the sheer terror he felt. He had finally awakened enough to form thoughts. _Where's Green? Where's Vio? Where is Blue? Why isn't anyone here to help me?_

Blue jolted up in bed, the nightmare fresh in his mind. Slowly, without feeling or sound, the child hugged his knees to his chest and rested his forehead on them.

This was the position Blue stayed in, without sobbing, without shrieking, frozen, when Vio opened the door the next morning to tell him that breakfast was ready.


End file.
